ygo meets xaolin showdown: shen gong duels
by stonewall shinobi
Summary: when a dark force takes the shen gong wu from Omi and the crew, and places their energy into cards, Yugi and the gang need to get back the wu with the help of Omi and his friends! Review like the wind! rated k for now, but that may change soon.
1. Chapter 1

ok, so this is my first crossover fic, so be nice! pls? i make more chapters with more reveiws. the mroe reveiws i get, the sooner the next chapter comes up. simple as that, k? well the, let's get down to bussiness!

DISCLAIMER: I dobn't own yugioh, or dungeon dice monsters, or xaolin showdown, or anything in here! so don't sue me! sueing burns! it burns us it does!

"Now, armed samurai ben kai, attack clay's rampart blaster now! double slash blast!" the mighty warrior raised an arm. attached to it was an image of the axe of despair,

and it came down now on the great fortress of a monster before him. Hard.

"Not bad, Omi," Clay said, impressed by his friend's new deck. "But you'll have to try harder than that! My rampart blaster was in defensive mode, so my lifepoiints are safe!"

"But that is where you're wrong, old friend. you see, the Armed samurai Ben Kai has a VERY special ability. In addition to it's normal attack, it gets another one for each equip spell card that has been played on it! Go, my warrior! attack Clay directly with several sickle slash!" the many-weaponed warrior attacked clay with ease, slashing until Clay's lifepoints fell to 0.

"Well, that was one rodeo of a duel, Omi," Clay said, complimenting his friend. "I guess I owe you this." Clay extended his hand, giving the "united we stand" card to Omi.

"Thank you, Clay. this is most appreciated. perhaps soon you can win it back from me, if-"

"If I don't win it first."

Omi and Clay looked towards the newcomer. he was tall, but thin, with a large mohawk extending from his otherwise bald head. He wore a simple black robe, a hood extended downwards from the neck, and he gave off a radiance of evil.

"Who are you," asked Omi, "and how did you get into the dragon temple? if you know enough about this place to know iut's secret location, then you know wneough to know that intruders will be destroyed at once!"

"Assuming they could touch me," said the fiend, taking a bite of a freshly picked apple from a nearby tree. "The name's Spike, and I wouldn't go talking smack like that unles you could back it up, kid."

"Of course i can! and I shall pr-- wait, why have you come here?"

"Ha! And i thought the chosen dragons were intelligent. to collect all these activated shangon wu, of course! Why else would i be here?"

"Well then, you must go through me! i challenge you to a xaolin showdown! What is your wager?"

"Cool your role, half-pint. I'll accept your challenge. but... how about a throwdown, instead of a showdown?"

"What do you mean?" Omi had never heard this particular expression before.

"A duel, of course. if I win, i take all of your shangon wu. That means the eye of darshi, the 2-ton tunic, the boa-boa rope, the tiger claws, the sword of the storm, the monarch wings, the shroud of darkness, the fist of tebigong, star hanabi, orb of tornami, and anything else you may have hidden inside that temple. Agreed?"

Omi was shocked. He had no idea that anyone could keep so close an eye on them as to know every shangon wu they had in their posession, let alone come close enough to them to challenge him for them! Omi was frightened, to say the least. But a xaolin mink could not deny a challenge: it was part of their code of honor. "I... accept your challenge, Spike. good luck to you. you will need it."

"Luck is for losers. Good luck though." Spike laughed as a dark cloud drifted over the scene at the dragon temple.

"And now you have no more monsters to remove for him! Dark magician, destroy Duke's strike Ninja now, and win this duel! dark magic attack!"

The mighty sorcerer of darkness lifted his staff, and blasted an energy beam that blasted the strike ninja away, and launched Duke straight onto his butt.

"Great duel, Yugi. I suppose there's always next time.

"Always," Yugi agreed, dusting himself off. "That orgoth's attack really hurt! where'd you get him?"

"It helps having a contract with industrial illusions. Pegasus and i both have our own games, of course, but he decided to merge them together! the cards don't get released until next month, but he gave me one copy of each, to see how they run!"

"Wow, it looks like everyone's gonna see how great dungeon dice monsters really is, Duke. Congratulations!"

"Thanx, but the truth is, I'm kind of nervous about it. the creature in duel monsters are completely different from the creatures in dungeon dice monsters! let me explain.--"

"Gee, hate to interrupt dis _riveting convasation, _but it's my tahn! whaddya say, Yuge? One more?" The interuption came from Joey (in case you couldn't tell from the awful grammar), who was itching for his third loss of the day.

"Well, I suppose I could, but watch out! I'm first!"

"Yugi, telephone for you! someone very... er... special has called!" Mr. Mouto called out from the other room.

"Special? Who could it be, Yuge? some girlfriend you never told us about?" Joey posed the question, having, with his short attention span, completely forgotten about their duel.

"Oh grow up, guys. It's probably just Kaiba, asking for ANOTHER rematch." Tea was getting quite fed up. This was the fourth day in a row he had called, and this would be the fourth day in a row Yugi showed him up.

"Yeah, probably. Don't worry, I'll tell him no this time. I'm getting pretty bored with this."

Yugi and the gang (the gang at the time consisting of Tristan, Joey, Tea, and Duke, not counting the king of games himself) went onto the kitchen to find Mr. Mouto holding the phone, waiting impatiently. "And don't forget to be polite! this is a ver iomportant person you're about to be talking to!"

"Come on, grampa, lighten up. It's just Kaiba, right?" Yugi took the phone before his grandfather could answer him. "Hello?"

"Hello, Yugi-boy. Been a while, hasn't it?"

"Pegasus? What do you want?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. I've gotten in a little over my fool head, and was just hoping on hope that the king of games could come and wisk me away from all the danger, yet again!"

"Pegasus, what are you talking about? What have you done this time?"

"Oh, you'll see! But i need you, and your friends, to come to monster island right away! it's important!"

"Pegasus- what--" But all he heard was dial tone: Pegasus had hung up.

Okay, so this is my first crossover fic, and I'm hoping to have the two meet very soon. the Yugioh crew here was a bit in the future to the xaolin crew, but only by a day or so. the next chapter is going to be mostly Omi and the crew, the duel that leads to the loss of all their shangon wu, and their obtaining of just one more, which happens to be enough to challenge Spike to a new duel, but he has a plan for these shangon wu, and it's already underway! don't miss chapter 2, "The plan comes to light", coming with reveiws!

Dojo.

Chase Young

Jack Spicer

Clay

omi

kimiko

raymundo

shengon wu


	2. a duel for all the marbles!

chapter 2! hazah! ok, i've only gotten one review so far, and i really appreciat eit, but i need more! come on people! show me some love!

disclaimer: i don't own, ygo, xaolin showdown, shen gong wu, or anything. the idea for the shen gong wu spoike puts up is mine though, and i apolagize for it's overpowered-ness. i had to make something very strong to make it worth ALL the shen gong wu they had.

now then, down to bussiness, shall we?

"If I am to put up all of our shen gong wu, Spike, you must have something powerful indeed. What is _your _wager?"

"Oh, nothing, really, just a little something called "the bow of the elements."

Omi had never heard of this particular shen gong wu. "And what does this do, Spike?"

Oh, you'll see. Watch." Spike pulled the bow out of the inside of his robe, and loosed an arrow that seemed to come from nowhere. Omi gasped at the result! With strength like this, the bow of elements would have to be one of the most powerful shen gong wu in the world! an explosion of color erupted from the shaft of the arrow, destroying everything in a ten foot radius. "So you see now Omi," The robed beast of a man said to the short, yellow skinned boy looking up at him, "The bow of elements has a very powerful range, with a never ending quiver, and every time it hits home, it will release a blast of all four elements! earth, water, fire, and air will all erupt from the shaft of the arrow at once, creating a powerful explosion of the elements! It's completely indestructable, and that means any who posess it are invincible! So, what do you say, Omi? Shall we duel for this mighty shen gong wu?"

Omi stood there in shock at the power of this item. He couldn't see any weakness to this mighty bow, and He could _feel_ it's power reverberating from the bowstring. "V-very well, Spike. I shall except y-your challenge. on one condition:" the small duel disk on Omi's arm erupted back to life, and the lifepoint meter reset itself to 4000. "I get to go first! Let's duel!"

"Fine by me, fool. It won't help you at all."

"We shall see! now let's duel!" Omi drew his five cards, then a sixth, and began his turn: "I start with one card facedown, and the mighty maha vailo in attack mode!" A great fairy-like spellcaster in a human-like body appeared, hovering in a meditative stance, but with his arms flexed in a threatening position. (1550/1400) "I end my turn there, Spike. Make your move."

"If you insist. I draw!" Spike drew his card, thinking, _I know that maha vailo's ability. If Omi uses an equip spell card on it, it goes up by 500 additonal attack points, not counting what was added from the card. and seeing that he played armed samurai ben kai in what i caught in his duel with Clay, I'd bet he runs a lot of equip cards, and that facedown is one of them, in a bluffing position._ "You think that facedown equip card scares me? Think again! Now i summon the mighty giant orc in attack mode!" A great beast emerged from the hologram projector, it's skin a pale white, holding a giant bone as a club. (2200/0) Now, Giant orc, attack his maha vailo now! club smash blast! the great orc rammed his great club down on maha vailo, only to be stopped halfway through by Omi's interruption.

"I play my trap card! Go, blast with chain!" a great stick of dynamite emerged, and slipped into maha vailo's hands.

"What?" Spike hadn't expected that!

"That's right! You were correct when you said I had an equip card facedown, Spike, but you were sorely mistaken when you thought i couldn't activate it just yet! My blast with chain is a very special equip card, because it is treated as an equip spell after it is activated, giving my maha vailo 500 extra attackj points! and then maha vailo's ability kicks in, giving him still more attack points!" Omi chuckled at the look on Spike's face as his gaint orc was wrapped in chains, then squeezed to oblivion, rendering the monster simple pixels\, as ghis maha vailo shot up in attack points! (1550/1400-2550/1400)

"aaahh..." Spike gruinted as his duel dik's meter dropped his lifepoints down to 3,650. "alright, I end my turn by laying two cards facedown on the field!"

"Very well. I draw!" Omi chuckled once more looking at his draw. "Spike, you were foolish enough to attack on your turn, and took damage for it! now you shall take even more punishment! maha vailo, attack his lifepoints directly! Surging chain strike!" maha vailo drew back the arm with the blast with chain dynamite in it, and launched a great whip of chains straight towards Spike! It drew closer, closer... Omi watched nervously, hoping those two facedown cards were bluffs, as it came closer to Spike, closer... closer... just a few more inches now...

"I activate my trap card! go! magic cylinder! This trap will not only negate your attack, but send it stragith back at your lifepoints!" The cup took the chains deep inside its unending space, and launched it out into the air, hurdling towards Omi! He gasped as it came straight back at him! "feling the hurt, Omi? Good, I was hoping you would be. anything else?"

"I end my turn, with a monster in facedown defensive mode... make your move, Spike." Omi couldn't believe Spike could get a leadlike that this early! Especially using his own monster! The score now stood at 1,450 to 3,650!

"Alright, I draw! now I summon one monster in defensive mode, and end my turn as well! make your move!"

"As... as if you could stop me." Omi ha dnever had an attack hurt so badly! And Omi had once even been hit directly by Raimundo's ultimate Tyranno!

"I draw... I.. I flip summon my mataza the zapper, in attack mode!" the monster on Omi's field revealed himself, showing a rather handsome, tan warrior, jetbalack hair stuck up in a long ponytail. my mataza has the ability to attack you twice in one battle phase! I shall make full use of this effect now! Mataza the zapper, go! Attack Spike's facedown monster now, with firstborn of the twinblades!" the warrior streuck a _very _threatening pose, and rammed one of his two great swords into Spike's monster. A wierd, hiuman-like fienmd appeared, arm outstretched, letting out a hideous moan as it let itself slip into the graveyard, the sound of which echoed for a long while. Once Omi had finally had enough of the sound, he said, "Okay, I give up. what is the point behind the continued moan of the creature I destroyed?"

"Fool. The monster you destroyed is a very powerful one known as newdoria. When this card is destroyed in battle, i can select any monster on the field, and newdoria takes that monster with it! Go newdoria, Perish song!" The fiend let out one last blast of sound from it's powerful lungs, and maha vailo shattered! the pixels of the great beast collected in Omi's graveyard, and blast with chain was gone as well.

"Very well, Spike, I am impressed. But I _said_ I was going to make full use of Mataza the zapper's double attack ability! Go, Mataza the zapper! Second of the forge attack!" The handsome warrior drew his second blade, and shoved it throgh Spike's stomach. Spike took the hit with ease, and simply sighed dissappointedly as his life points dropped to 2,350 in comparison to Omi's 1,450.

"Way to go, Omi," shouted an excited Clay, eager to help his friend. "You did more damage to him their then a fox in a henhouse!"

_Yes, but at the cost of my maha vailo. I lost a powerful ally there, and will have to be careful. _Omi only thought this, and said nothing, not wanting to upset Clay.

"You know, Omi, i'm kind of dissapointed in you. I truly expected more form you. But I guess now i have to shame you by winning. Easily. Prepare yourself, it's my turn now! I draw!" Spike laughed hard at his latest draw. he seemed to like it. _A lot._ I play my graceful charity spell card! this lets me draw three cards from y deck,m in exchange for discarding two from my hand afterwards." An angel emerged from his duel disk, and "handed" him three hologram cards, while Spike drew his three true cards. "Now i discard my second giant orc, and my summoned skull! And now the object of your demise arives! I remove three fiend types in my grave yard from play, those three being newdoria, gaint orc, and my second giant orc, to summon the almighty! behold, my goddess, the invincible, the fear of death in itself! BEHOLD THE MIGHTY... **_DARK NECROFEAR!" _**A great demon arose, in the form of a horrificly deformed woman. in her arms, she cradled a very real-looking babydoll, with it's head half-off, and what looked like- Omi gulped at the thought- _bite marks_- all over it. "Quite a looker, ain't she?" Spike chuckled at his own, sadistic joke. "and she's powerful too. 2200 atack points! and all of them are aimed at you. but she won't fire just yet. i half a friend to bring out. remebr when i discarded my summoned skull with graceufl charity? he'd like to get to know you better. So now i play the mighty Premature burial card! This restores my summoned skull, at the mere cost of eight hundred lifepoints!" Spike smiled- yes, _smiled_- as his lifepoints dropped to 1,750, and the great skeletal demon emerged from the grave yard, withwhat looked like a zombie above him, controlling his motions. "Now then, down to business, huh? dark necrofear, attack mataza the zapper! darkness surge!" The mighty fiend let out a great blast of darkness, destroying mataza the zapper easily, and sending Omi's lifepoints, which were meager to begin with, tumbling down to 550. "And now, my summoned skull, finish it! Lightning strike! destroy what'f left of Omi's lifepoints!" The great horned beast launched a blast of powerful thuinder at Omi, knocking him off his feet as his lifepoints plummeted to zero. "Now then, I believe there is the small matter of the shen gong wu you owe me?" spike asked menacingly.

"Why... you... I'll take you on! Come on, double or nothing!"

"_Tempting_ as that is," pike said sarcastically, I think I'll just take my prize and leave. besides, little Omi put up ALL your shen gong wu. whatelse do you have I would want? A duel deck that isn't worth my time? Please. Oh, no, no, Don't bother getting up, I'll just get them myself."Spike pulled a small locket out of his robe pocket, and shouted "**locking locket!" **a whirlwind of shen gong wu surged forth, all of them landing inside the locket Spike had just activated, apparently a shen gong wu itself. _hahaha, that was easier than taking candy from a baby, _Spike thoght, chuckling at Omi, who was currently clutching his sides and trying to get up. _I cant believe I dids it! The boss is giving me a promotion for sure! _"Well, it's been _swell_, but I'm afraid that's my ride." A helicopter began descending upon the temple, and dropped a rope ladder down, which Spike promptly grabbed, and was picked up. "'Til next time, shortstuff! Ciao!" _And it's off to monster island I go. I'll be sure to get on eof these power cards, and the boss will handle the rest._

alright, so they've lost all their shen gong wu! what will they do now? more importantly, why is Spike headed to monster island, and what did he mean by "power cards"? all this and more in the next chapter or so of shen gong duels! oh, and review! review like crazy people!

NEW SHEN GONG WU DATA:

Locking locket: this has an infinite amount of space inside of it, and will suck in anything the user wishes, to be released whenever he/she wishes.

The bow of the elements: this bow not only has a powerful range, and a never ending quiver, but upon hitting its mark, it will send powerful blasts of all four elemnts into the surrounding area!


	3. buildup to meeting

the aeroplane used to transport Yugi and the gang to Monster Island was a large one. Pegasus figured it would have to be: It was, afterall, transporting himself, Yugi, and anyone he chose to bring with him to the island, and there would have to be a space to duel, as that was about all he knew about this team. Pegasus brought his own deck as well. He thought he may have to use it in the days to come. He landed in a large landing zone in the airport, and found Yugi waiting with a smaller group than he thought: in the procession, he found: Mai Valentine, _hhhmm, she placed third in my tournament. he was wise to bring HER with him. the rest, though... I'm not so sure about them..._ he thought quietly, watching them filter into his plane, chatting amongst themselves as though this was some kind of school field trip. after Mai, Joey Wheeler strode, to proudly, Pegasus thought, into the plane, talking to Duke Devlin, whom Pegasus had no idea knew Yugi mouto, let alone could be coming with them. After Duke, Tea folowed, the only one NOT wearing a duel disk, and talking to a nervous Ryou Bakura. He couldn't help note what they said as they passed: "So, Ryou, what do you think this is all about? I don't think this is just some kind of sick joke. Even Pegasus isn't that sick... right?"

"I don't know, Tea, but whatever it is, its powerful. the spirit of the millenium ring can sense it even now." _Good, _Pegasus thought, impressed by his prone-ness to reading his item. _He';ll need to be as aquainted with magic as possible to live up to the challenge ahead of them._ Bringing up the rear was a frightened, but firm, Tristan Taylor, wearing his duel disk backwards, as though just getting used to it. _ This one gives reason to worry. Let's just hope that duel disk is some kind of sick joke, or at least that he duels better than he puts those things on. _ they gathered into the plane and took their seats, as the pilot asked from the front, and awaited for Pegasus to brief them. He sighed, and strode worriedly into the plane.

Omi was devastated. He couldn't believe it! All of their shen gong wu, gone! with just one simple, what was it Spike called it? _Throwdown_. The word would sicken Omi forevermore. He stayed there for minutes, on his knees, gasping for breath, ashamed by his failure, until eventually, Kimiko and Raimundo arrived at the scene, accompanied by a very worried-looking master fung. "Omi, we saw the shen gong wu flying out from their holding area, and knew something was wrong. What happened?"

Omi couldn't beleive this! First he lost a duel-to a _fiend_ deck, no less- and now he had to tell master Fung about his failure! How cruel the world was! "Master Fung, I have failed you. I- I lost the Shen gong wu. A robed man came, unannounced to our temple, and- and- I can't beleive I have failed!" Omi started crying to himself softly as Master Fung sighed, then smiled compassionately and bent down to Omi.

"Omi, my boy, it is not your fault that you lost. _No _warrior is invincible! Even I have seen my share of losses. Besides, if this fiend-"

"I reckon that's not the best term to use with the little guy, right now, master," This interjection came from Clay. He had sen how this happened, and didn't want omi to feel bad about it! "Omi, it's not your fault you lost! That Dark necrofear card is tougher than a new-prodded bull!"

"I know, clay, I thank you for your loyalty to me, even at this time," Omi looked up to Master Fung. "Master Fung, please, how may we get the missing shen gong wu back? without any to wager in showdowns, it would be most difficult to obtain any more."

"Fear not, Omi. I know of one shen gong wu he has not taken."

Master fung led Omi, Clay,. Raimundo, and Kimiko down into the underbelly of the xaolin temple, into a room they had never been inside of before. "Hey, Fung-dude?" The inquiry came from Raimundo this time. "How could he have not gotten this shen gong wu? I mean, if what Omi said is true, and he did use this- locking locket, or whatever it is- how did it go under the radar?"

Master fung chuckled softly. Not all shen gong wu are offensive, Raimundo. This is the item that was not taken." Master fung held up a large staff. "The rod of Dashi. The great monk thoguht that his own weapons may be used against him, and so created this. Whoever bares this powerful item cannot be effected negatively by shen gong wu, nor can the rod itself. Unfortantely, it is up to the rod just what fortunate- and unfortunate- are."

"But how can a big stick decide, Master Fung," Kimiko asked. "I mean, so far, all these shen gong wu have been powerful, but none of them actually thought, or decided-- did they?"

"You are correct, Kimiko. This is what makes the staff so powerful. When the great monk Dashi passed away, he sealed away some oif his wisdom into this great staff. this is why I was so reluctant to use it: I fthe rod of Dashi is destroyed, every shen gong wu on Earth shall lose its power, and fade to nothingness. Now then, Omi, where did you say this assailant was headed?"

"I don't know if I can be sure," said Omi, doubting himself after his loss. "But i beleive he said: monster island."

"Very well. Go fetch Dojo. it is off to this, "mosnter island" with you then."

Omi hung his head, for the first time, doubting his place as a xaolin monk. "Master Fiung, are you sure it is wise to send me off to Monster Island. I am the one who lost the Shen gong wu in the first place."

"Actually, Omi, I need you there more than any others. It happens I foresaw this, and a good friend of mine has enlisted some, er... "help"... We'll need you there to help them learn how to play with the Shen gong wu."

"Yes, Master Fung. I will not doubt your decision." and with that, the foursome grabbed Dojo, and their duel disks, and were off.

NEW SHEN GONG WU DATA:

The Rod of Dashi: This shen gong wu makes its user unaffectable by other shen gong wu. It is also the host of the wisdom of Dashi, and destroying this would destroy all other shen gong wu in the world.

and so concludes the Third chapter of this crossover! in the next chappie: Yugi and the gang reach Monster island first, and Pegasus tells them about what has happened to the shen gong wu after they were stolen from Omi. next, Omi lands, and the first shen gong duel occurs! don't miss chapter 4, "The fight begins" coming soon!


	4. the fight begins!

Okay,. chapter four time! The fun really begins here as Clay and Spike face off for the rod of Dashi, and the changing chopsticks! And here is where you find out that the xiaolin dragon's decks relate rather closely to their owners.

Now then, before I get started, I have a few things to say.

first off, if you liked the story enough to read it up to this point, then I would really appreciate some serious review-ness, k? It takes like 5 seconds to say "great job, keep going", and it really helps get this thing going faster! so, review like the wind, people!

second order of business, I would like to congratulate 16forever, my only reviewer for this story thus far, on having his birthday, and letting him know its great that I could make it even better! Also to thank him for his dedication to reviewing every chapter of the fic, and reading it all thus far.

Oh yeah, and one last thing, Pegasus gets to be sadictive! YAY, sadictive!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the computer I type on, my duel deck, my girlfriend (just kidding, don't kill me, ladies!), and other things I fail to mention. but not xiaolin showdown, yugioh, shen gong wu, or any of the other BS that comes up here... not so much. I don't own it, I just don't. wish I did, don't.

down to bussines, shall we?

Yugi and the gang waited and waited for Pegasus to emerge from the cockpit with the pilot, each sure they would get some answers soon, but none certain of just what these answers would be. After what seemed like hours, the voice of Pegasus finally spoke up via intercom. "Attention, passengers, this is your pilot speaking."

"WHAT!" The interruption came from Tea. You mean we're being-being- flown- by _this mad man!"_

"Oh, Tea-girl, I'm hurt." Pegsus replied, not sounding hurt at all (in fact, he sounded rather- amused). "Why yes, I am your pilot for the evening, but I'm getting bored, so we'll be experiencing some- _turbulence_ for the next minute or so. all thanks to your lovely loudmouth Tea."

Tea was unimpressed for a moment, then shrieked as the plane turned over in midair! The plane dipped and swerved, ensuring feelings of nausea and vertigo all around. "Ah, that was _fun_! Now then, You may like to know we'll be arriving soon, so please fasten your seatbelts, as the landing area hasn't been used in quite some time, so we my be in for a bumpy ride. Hahahahahaa! See you later, folks!"

"What? Pegasus!"Yami couldn't help but yell, after throwing up onto the ceiling mid-flip, then having it fall back down on him as the plane turned right-side up. "That's enough! Tell us what's going on now, or I'll--"

"Oh, be a good sport, Yugi-boy. if you look, Monster island is just beneath us, so I hope you took my advice! Oh, and you'll find some moist towelettes in the drawer in the seat in front of you, Yugi-boy."

"Well, I see old Pegasus is just as sadictive as ever", Tristan said, buckling himself in tight, and watching the others do the same.

"So, Rai, Kimiko, Clay, where is this "monster island" place, anyway?" The question came from Dojo, not really knowing where to go.

"I don't really know, Dojo," Kimiko replied. "I mean, I know its where the duelist kingdom tournament weas held, but that's about it."

"It's just to the northeast of here, Dojo," Raimundo said, trying to be helpful. He was surpirsed by the looks his freinds gave him. "Hey, my cousin was in that tournament" He told them. "And he would have gone all the way, too, if it weren't for that Wheeler kid."

"Really, Raimundo? Joey Wheeler knocked out your cousin? Who is he?"

"Noone, really. In fact, I wish he wasn't a relative at all, even though he DID get me into duel monsters. His name is--"

"Alright, guys, Here we are." dojo interrupted, coming down onto the island.

"Ugh, worse ride of my life," Tea said, holding her head and feeling woozy as she stepped, dizziedly out of the plane. "And I went on that roller coaster at the theme park with Tristan that one time!"

"How could you possibly say that was bad?" The odd statement came from the thrill-seeking Tristan. "That was awesome, Pegasus! Hey, when we're done with this, Whatsay you give that another shot?"

Pegasus ignored the united crowd of shouted "NO!"s, and replied amusedly, "We'll, see, Tristan. Maybe if you elarn how to wear a dueldisk properly, we'll look into it."

He chuckled as Tristan realized his backwards duel disk, and fixed his error.

"Ha, if this is the bunch of great warriors Fung sent to help, then I should be able to take care of them, no problem." Yugi and the gang looked over to the newcomer. He was tall, but thin, with a large mohawk extending from his otherwise bald head. He wore a simple black robe, a hood extended downwards from the neck, and he gave off a radiance of evil. (A/N: Remember this description?)

"Who are you supposed to be, Mr. mohawk?", an upset Tristan asked.

"Careful, guys. The millenium ring doesn't really like this guy, and frankly, neither do I." Ryou Bakura gave the statement. He sensed something-_familiar_- about him, an aura radiating from his duel disk.

"The name's Spike. And I'm here to duel you. Apparently, when I took the shen gong wu from that bald kid, I missed one, right? Well just give it to me, and I'll be off."

"Da shen gong what?" The question piped out of a confused Joey. "Look, Bighair, I don't know what da heck you're talkin' about, and frankly, i don't tink i wanna!"

"I see. So you haven't been briefed? Dissapointing. Pegasus, I thought you'd tell them about your shame! And just who are you calling bighair, anyway, hypocrite? after all, you pal around with a teenage-mutant ninja hedgehog over there." Spike smirked and gstured towardss Yugi, who still looked slightly ill from the ordeal in the plane.

"You be quiet, you... fiend! I'll tell them when the time is right!"

"Tell us what?" A concerned Yami stepped through to the middle of the crowd. "Pegasus, you brought us here without us knowing what's going on, took us through several-er- loops, and frankly, we could all use some answers."

"Yugi-boy, I'd love to tell you, but you need some information on another subject before you can be filled in on what has happened. Ah, and here are our guest speakers now!" Yugi and the gang watched, in awe, as a great green dragon flew through the sun-lit sky, straight towards the spot where they stood. They all stood, mouth agape, as the dragon got bigger as he approached, then landed, and became incredibly small(compared to what they had just seen, anyway), and had 4 kids, just below their own age, get off.

"Pegasus, old friend! How ya doin'?" The Yugi crew were becoming more and more surprised. first, a dragon, but now... it _talked? And it knew Pegasus?_

"Oh, you know, the usual, making new cards, becoming the sole person responsible for almost bringing about a new world order." _He says it so **calmly,**_ Yami thought, _as though people were responsible for new world orders every day! _"Well, Our friends are waiting, and you can see our first -guest- is already here. see?" Pegasus pointed over to Spike, waiting calmly, hands folded in lap.

"You!" A furious Omi exclaimed. "I thought I would never have to see you again after you took the shen gong wu?"

The robed man chuckled and said, "Oh, Omi, so naive. So sad, So _bald_" The man laughed at his own joke and continued calmly, "No, it was so much fun you see, little Omi, winning those shen gong wu, that I had to come back for another one."

"Okay, now I'm gettin' **mad**!" An outraged Joey said. "what da heck is goin' on here! All I'm hearin' is shen gong this, and shen gong crap, and I'm gettin' tired of it! What da hell is going on?"

"Patience, my new and badly-grammared friend. I will explain everything now." Omi explained everything to Yugi and the gang, from the shen gong wu to the xaolin showdowns, never taking his eyes off Spike. He explained about Jack Spicer, Wuya, and the great monk Dashi. By the time he had finished, the sun had begun to set.

"And now I've turned these great items into cards." Pegasus said, hanging his head shamefully. "They forced me too! He said that if I could outduel one of their ranks, they would give back the shen gong wu, but if I couldn't, I had to make them into special enchanted cards! I think it goes without saying that I lost. Badly. My opponent used a rather good deck, actually, it was all about-"

"That's enough, Pegasus," an impatient Spike said, tapping his foot and crossing his arms. "That's all well and good and all, but those of us who know about all this already are getting **bored**. Are you guys gonna duel me, or what?"

"I shall play you again, Spike. Do not think you can defeat me again!"

"Relax, chromedome. I don't want to play you again. that'd hardly be any fun at all! How about you there, gorgeous?" He gestured towards Mai, smirking as he made a "come and get it" sign with his fingers. "It might be fun."

"I don't think so, pard'ner. When you hurt Omi, you made it personal. You're gonna play me. And I'm gonna win, and you'll run off with your tail between your legs like a dog. And when I'm finished, I'll take back the shen gong wu you stole."

" Only one. Your friend Omi may be a it dim, but I don't bet anymore then what my opponent is betting. Tough talk, anyway. I don't think someone who runs a rampart blaster could take me, but we'll see. gimme you're best shot! I wager the changing chopsticks!"

"Alright, I wager the rod of Dashi, and I'm goin' first! let's get this rodeo a-goin'!" Both duel disks activated as Clay drew his 6 cards to start the duel. "I'll start, now, with one card facedown, and by discarding king of the swamp! This lets me add one "polymerization" card from my deck to my hand! Next up, I summon elemental hero avian in atk mode! Make your move, pard'ner!" The feathered man appeared on the field, arms outstretched threateningly. (1000/1000)

"Juvenile, at best." Spike smirked his famous smirk as he drew his card. "I start with the spell card Mystical space typhoon! This will destroy your facedown card!" Spike laughed as a fierce wind blew up, and blew away Clay's facedown card, revealing it to be a mirror wall. "Next, I summon my archfiend soldier, in attack mode!" A darkly clothed soldier emerged, wielding a curved blade. (1900/1500) "Archfiend soldier, attack his Avian now!" The "man" ran for the feathered warrior, and sliced him in half, cutting a line through Clay's lifepoints too, as they fell to 7100. "I end my turn there. make your move!"

"If you insist. I summon my elemental hero sparkman, in attack mode!" A hero appeared, standing brightly, covered in armor, and sparks running through it. (1600/1000) "Next, I play polymerization! This lets me fuse 2 monsters from my hand! I'll fuse my second elemental hero Avian with elemental hero Burstinatrix to create the elemental hero flame wingman!" He held up the three cards from his hand, and images of each appeared briefly, mixing together to create a red warrior, coated in feathers. (2100/1200) and, just so you know, if flame wingman destroys a monster in battle, that monsters attack score is cut directly out of your lifepoints! Elemntal hero flame wingman, attack his soldier now, with arial flame strike!" The tailed warrior leapt into the air, and brought his claw down onto the archfiend soldier! the fiend was sliced in half, as Spike's lifepoints fell fo 7800, then to 5900! "And now my sparkman gets his attack! Elemental hero sparkman, attack Spike dirctly with shining surge flash!" Sparkman charged up by rubbing his hands together, and shot thunder at the robed fiend! Spike grunted as his lifepoints fell to 4300 (4300/7100). "See? I wanted you to attack Avian, so I could summon the wingman to hurt you! Still call it juvenile, pard'ner? Now then, if you think you can move, you can take your turn now, pard'ner."

"Spike groaned and rose from his knees, not remembering having fallen. "You... little... twerp! I'll get you for that!"

Spike drew his card as Omi exclaimed "Yes, friend! Show that robed fiend who is boss! kick his foot!"

"Um, Omi," Raimundo interjected, "that's butt. Kick his BUTT."

"That too!"

Spike smiled as he layed a card down on his duel disk. "I summon winged minion, in attack mode!" A winged fiend appeared, zigzagging left and right, up and down, across and diagonal. (700/700)

"What? Why would you summon a monster that weak to the field? I've seen chickens who could lasso that thing easy!"

"True, true. But what if I were to "lasso" him for you?"

"What?"

Spike chuckled. "You see, winged minion has a _very _special ability. By offering him from my side of the field as a tribute, I can increase both the attack and defense of 1 fiend type monster on the field by 700 points!"

"Excuse me, hombre, but I'm still confused. I don't see any fiend types ON your side of the field, except for the minion."

"Yeah? Well, look now, because I'm activating premature burial!" Spike lost 800 lifepoints as archfiend soldier was brought back to the field, bringing the score to 3500 to 7100.

"Oh no, My friend Clay, you are surely in trouble now!"

"Calm down, Omi," Raimundo replied. "Clay's in a bit of a tough spot, but he'll pull through."

"I think not. Archfiend soldier, devour the winged minion, gain his strength!" The large fiend opened what could loosely be called a mouth, and sucked the winged minion into the gaping hole. The fiend gained even more might, going up to a massive 2600 attack points! (2600/2200) "Now, archfiend soldier, attack Clay's wingman now! assisted saber slice!" the archfiend struck his revenge with interest, sliding the blade deep inside flame wingman's stomach, -and Clay swore he heard a chuckle- and pulled it out, as the wingman burst into pixels, lowering the score to 6600/3500. "next up, I lay one card facedown, and end my turn. Go ahead."

Clay shuddered with anger. "How... dare you... rassle my friends like that!"

Spike chuckled. "Speak up, cowboy, I could have sworn I just heard you say flame wingman was your "friend". Wow. You're pathetic, and way to close to your cards. Because of that, you will lose."

"That's what you think, Hombre. Do you know why I run the elemental heroes?"

"Surely you'll tell me anyway. make it quick, then."

"See, we're all dragons of a certain element. wind, earth, water, and fire. It so happens that the elemental heroes represent each of those elements. Flame wingman was a wind-type. He represented Raimundo... So when you go and hurt my monsters, you're hurting my friends, and that'll get you rassled fersure. Now, it's my turn, varmint, and I activate Graceful charity! You remeber it, right? It lets me draw three cards from my deck, so long as I discard two right after." Clay made his draws, and msiled as he di so. "The cards I discard are the elemental heroes clayman, and bubbleman!" "Next up, I activate a pair of my favorite spell card! Miracle fusion! Never count my friends out of the game! This lets me fusion summon monsters, using ones from my field, or GRAVEYARD! So now I activate myfirst, to remove clayman and bubbleman, to summon the elemental hero mudball man!" The warrior lived up to his name, made completely of large globs of mud. (0/3000) "Next, I play my spell card, shield and sword! this switches the attack of my monsters with their defense ((0/3000-3000/0) next, I play my second miracle fusion, emptying my hand, but giving me the chance to fuse the elmental hero flame wingman from my graveyard, with the elemtnal hero sparman on my field, to create the elemental hero shining flare wingman! the flame wingman reappeared, but wearing sparkman's armor. (2500/2000), and, just so you know, he gets 300 attack for every elemental hero in my graveyard, and with burstinatrix, and 2 Avian, that's 900, putting him at 3400 attack points! (3400/2000) now, elemental hero shining flare wingman, attack his archfiend soldier now! Shining flash blast!

"I activate my quick-play spell card! changing chopsticks!"

"Oh, no, A shen gong wu?"

"That's right! And this one in particular will halve the damage I take in battle after this card's activation! See, the changing chopsticks shrank their target when it wasn't a card, and now that it is, it "shrinks" damage! So now I only take 400 from it!" The soldier was destroyed, and Spikes lifepoints fell to 3100.

"Thats just fine, because now, I use my mudball man! Attack Spike now! Mudball blast! Now I lay one card facedown, and end my turn!" mudball man shot 3 blobs of mud at him, and Spike's lifepoints fell to 1600.

"Ha! pathetic! You'll have to do 3200 more damage to me if you want to win now! And now it's my turn!" Spike drew his card and laughed. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Shield and sword only works for one turn! and since your mudballman has only zero attack to start with, it's more or less a free shot! so now I summon slate warrior, In attack mode!" large knight in armor emerged onto the field, breastplates shining in the hologram light. (1900/400) "slate wariror, attack his mudball man now! fiendish wind!" The slate warrior shot a dark blast of air at mudball man, almost blasting him to pieces! Almost... "I activate my trap card! Go, magic cylinder! This trap stops the attack, and sends it back, straight towards your lifepoints! And since that's not battle damage, those chopsticks don't work on it! I believe that's game, trailhand." The cylinder caught the wind that was shooting towards mudball man, and hurled it back at Spike, ramming it into his gut, slamming him backwards, and knocking him to the ground, taking his breath away. "And now the changing chopsticks card is mine, AND That's one less bad guy to worry about."

"Clay! Oh my friend with the big hat, I was so worried! I am so glad you came out okay!"

"Okay... Omi, you don't need to worry about that dude anymore. Now that he's beaten, odds are, da bad guy wont use him again." This was Joey.

"How do you know so much about evil?"

"Let's just say Joey and I have been fighting evil for quite some time now," Yami interjected. "We know more than most people give us credit for. If one of their servants failed once, they won't let them fail again."

"Uh, what exactly does that mean," Kimiko asked. "What happens when their minions fail their masters?"

"Remember what dat achfiend soldah did to dat winged minion? basically dat."

Omi and the crew shuddered. They had no idea evil could be so... evil! "Surely you must be joking, one they called Yami," Omi said, nervous. "They wouldn't do that... would they?"

"I'm afraid so, Omi. But don't worry, my friends and I are here for that reason. We won't let anything happen to you."

"Yes, Yami. Thank you for your assistance. I feel much better now... kind of."

and that would be chapter 4! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! In the next chapter, Clay rests up from his duel with Spike, while Raimundo takes a shot at a duelist whose deck won't let him move! don't miss the next chapter: "in over your head", coming soon! REVIEW!


	5. in over your head

Wow, guys, really sorry about the wait on this one, but I have had a rough couple of months. trips to the hospital, becoming single, losing computer privliges, you get the drift. but the important thing is, I'm here now, so you can feel free to read and review at will!

"So, Pegasus, what's our next move?" The question came from Tristan, who was looking around the area, seemingly paranoid. "I mean, who knows when the next bad guy will attack, and I don't exactly like just sitting around!"

"Oh, I don't think you'll have to worry about that to much, Tristan," Pegasus replied. My assailant was fairly certain one of you would beat Spike, and left a map to the next duelist. Apparently, they just want to get this over with. No games."

"Well, I guess that's one thing to be thankful for," a slightly relieved Tea said. "I'm really getting tired of these idiots messing with our heads before we crush them."

"Ha, you don't have to worry about that, gorgeous," Raimundo told Tea confidently. "I got the next one, and I'll take him down before he can move."

"You sure about that Raimundo?" The question piped out from a concerned Kimiko. "I mean, we're good and all, but Yugi and his friends are _professionals_. Don't you think they could handle things a bit better here?"

"Don't worry, kimi-girl, I'm sure he'll do just fine." The interjection came from Pegasus. "At least, if he's anything like his cousin he will."

"HEY, that is reminding me, Raimundo! you never got to tell us who your cousin was. All you said was that he was a jerk that Joey knocked out of the duelist kingdom tournament a year or so back!"

"You say I knocked him out, kid?" Joey asked, talking to Omi. "Well, who was it, Rai, I can't tell. After all, dere were _so_ many people I knocked out." Joey smirked as Raimundo frowned.

"Oh, just that lamebrain Rex Raptor. He's the one who got me into due-"  
"You're related to Rex Raptor!" Tea turned green even as she said it. "Okay, if I wasn't sure before, now I am. I _really_ don't like this kid."

"Oh, come on, baby, don't be like that! It's not like he's me! Come on, once this is over, you'll see I'm not that bad, and maybe I'll take you to-"

"Ugh, gag me with a spoon" Tea followed the others down the trail they had started walking down without them, though still within earshot enough to laugh at Raimundo.

"They approach now, milord." A blue-haired man in a aqua-colored robe announced to seemingly noone.

"Good. See you don't fail me, like my last incompetent underling, and you'll be rewarded rather handsomely." The voice came from anywhere and nowhere, strong and powerful, thgouh with a hissing quality.

"Never would I dream of failing you, milord."

The robed man watched from a stone jutting from the water of a lake that he knew Yugi would find familiar. He heard their voices as they approached, leaving the forest area to gaze upon the water. They were close enough to see the stone on which the blue-haired man sat, but not the man himself.

"So, Pegasus, you said you dueled for your right to keep the wu the way they were. Surely they would have sent a high-ranked minion to face you. tell me, what kind of deck did he use?" Mai wanted to learn all she could about them. after all, she could manipulate her male opponents well enough, but it helped to learn about them first.

Pegasus sighed. "I never stood a chance. There wasn't a single monster in his deck that wasn't a-"

"Oh, come now, Pegasus, don't give away the secret now!" The robed man stood, and made himself known.

"No! It's him! But you're such a high-level servant! Why would he-"

"Why send me already? Long story short, Pegasus, Milord wanted to make this quick. He saw the efficiency with which Spike was taken down, and decided to send one of his agents. So then, who will be playing me?"

"That'll be me, Loser," an over-confident Raimundo said. 'I'll take you down before you know what hits you. Yo, Clay, mind if I borrow the chopsticks?"

"There all yours, pard'ner." Clay flicked the card into the air, watching Raimundo use his wind element to bring it to him. "Be careful, Trailhand."

"Eh, don't wory about me. I'll be fine. Just keep beautiful there warm for me." Raimundo chuckled and gestured towards Tea as he activated his duel disk, which was black, and studded with plastic fangs.

"Would you just shut up and duel already!" Tea almost wanted Raimundo to lose, just for the guy to shut him up.

"The name's Baveras, Raimundo."

The other's slowly nodded their encouragements, and Raimundo stepped closer to the lake. "So, you gonna get off that rock and duel me, or not?"

"Actually, I'm rather comfortable where I am. I think I'll keep my seat, thank you." Baveras smiled slightly. "In fact..." a small click was heard by the group as Baveras snapped his fingers, and the lake began to clear out! All the water was replaced by an old school dueling floor (much like the floors seen on yugioh GX, for purpose of clarification),and a stairway slowly lowered from the platform to thje ground where Raimundo sat. "Well, what are you waiting for? Hop on!"

Raimundo was stunned. He had never seen anything like that happen before! At least, outside of a xaolin showdown, anyway. "Alright, I wager the changing chopsticks!"

"Very well. I wager the tongue of Sai ping." Baveras held up the card, and slid it randomly into his deck. "Ready to lose?"

"I'm ready to kick your sorry butt, if that's what you mean." Rai smiled as he shuffled and drew. "I'll take the first turn, if you don't mind! I start by summoning Black stego, in attack mode!" a great dinosaur appeared, with horns on the end of it's tail, and spade shaped spikes along it's back. (1200/2000) Make your move!"

"With pleasure." Baveras drew a card, and placed one card on his duel disk. "The draw I got will get me the focus of my deck! I play it, but only after I play this! Activate spell absorption!" A blue card emerged onto the field, a pale, clammy looking hand floating above it. "Now, every time a spell card is activated, I gain five hundred lifepoints!"

"You gain what?"

"Lifepoints. five hundred of them, to be exact. and I intend to make good use of them. I start with this little beauty! Behold the card I drew, terraforming!"

"Terra-what?"

"My but you ask a lot of questions. Terra_forming_, young one. when this card is activated, I get to select any on e field spell card from my deck, and add it to my hand. I select this one! say hello to the most powerful field spell in the game, A legendary ocean!" Baveras played one card, revealing the picture of the earth, chainging shape before them, and searched his deck for another. Upon playing it, the entire field was engulfed by water, with great pillars rising from both sides of either player.

"Alright, I'm impressed by the landscaping, but what can it _do_? It can't be much better than most other field spells, right? boosting attack in exchange for defense... right?"

"Wrong, young one." Baveras chuckled at the surprised look on Raimundo's face. "Yoiu see, the only flaw to A legendary ocean compared to other field spells, is that it doesn't boost by much... only two hundred to be exact... but it's both attack _and_ defense that get the boost, and that's only the least important of it's three effects."

"What? You mean to tell me this thing has _three_ effects!"

"Oh yes, and they're all good. in adition to the attack boost, any of my water monsters in my hand lose one star level, meaning level fours can slip under cards like gravity bind, or level limit area b, and level five monsters can be summoned without tribute. The third and most important effect, however, is that it's name is treated as _umi._"

"It's name is most important? why is that?"

"You'll see soon enough. Oh, and before I forget I activated two spell cards there." Baveras closed his eyes and smiled as his lifepoints were raised to nine-thousand. "Now, I summon mermaid knight in attack mode!" A beautiful mermaid rose, carryuing a saber in her left hand. the power of A legendary ocean activated, pne of the pillars turning green for a moment, and suddenly spat a second sword out at the red-haired, scantily-clad mermaid. (1500/700-1700/900 "Before you ask, it has to do with my knight's ability. you see, when Umi is on the field, she can attack twice in the same battle phase! And with nothing but your pathetic little dinosaur on the field to protect you, things are about to get a lot harder for you than you think! Mermaid knight, attack Black Stego now, with first hydro blade!"

"Sorry, pal, but you're the one taking damage today."

"What?"

"That's right, See, my Black Stego has an effect. A _good _one." Raimundo smiled as the stego moved to face the side, waving it's tail defensively. "See, every time my stego is attacked, it switches to defense position automatically! And with two thousand defense points, it looks like _you'll_ be the one hurting here!"

"No! Mermaid knight, stop!"

"Too late, pal." Raimundo smiled as the mermaid charged. it slashed a blade at the stego, who knocked it away with ease, firing it's spade shaped spikes at the mermaid. The creature remained in tact, But Baveras felt the blow. (8700-8000) "Ha! anything else this turn?"

"No... Make your move..." Baveras hesitated, searching for a move he could make before Raimundo was able to inflict more damage to him.

"Alright, here comes round two! Get ready, pal!" Raimundo drew and smiled. "You're not the only one with monster good for attacking! say hello to my Sabersaurus!" A red triceratops appeared on the field, swords on it's head, and one edging it's tail. the beast roared madly, and looked ready to charge. (1900/500) "My sabesaurus may not have an effect, but he's ready to smash you! I move my Black stego to attack position, and attack your mermaid knight with sabersarus! Roaring blade charge!" The red beast went mad with fury, and lowered it's bladed skull in Baveras' direction, roaring as it charged. the mermaid was destroyed, and Baveras didn't like it. (8500-8000) "Now it's my stego's turn! go, Black stego! Tail spike cannon! Ready, aim, fire!" The stegosaurus lifted it's tail, and the spikes on it grew white-hot. Baveras watched as one caught flame, and was shot towards him. It hit baveras full in the chest, and his score was lowered even more. (7300/8000) "You can go, if you can even stand. Make your move, to quote you."

"Cute. I'm not through yet!" Baveras stood as he drew his card. "I start by summonging the mighty amphibious bugroth mk-3, in attack mode!" A large, reptilian-looking machine came out, missiles already charged on it's back. A legendary ocean activated, and the bugroth shrank in size, but gained attack power. (1500/1300-1700/1500)

"Yeah, for all the good it does you. I see that even with the boost, it isn't strong enough to take down either of my monsters! How can you damage me with that?"

"That's bugroth's ability. you see, if "Umi" is on my side of my field during my battle phase, than my bugroth can attack your lifepoints directly."

"What?"

"You heard me! Go, my Bugroth, attack Raimundo's lifepoints directly! Hydro missile shock!" Baveras smiled as a missile fired at Raimundo, sending an electric current through him as his lifepoints dropped. (6300/7300)

Raimundo never flinched. "That all pal? Those of us who can duel are waiting."

"Feel free to make a move, but only after I finish laying these two cards faceodwn on the field." The man in blue placed two cards on to his duel disk, and they appeared before them, mysterious and ready.

"Alright then, I draw!" Raimundo grew his card, and smirked to see it. I styart with a spell card! Go, heavy storm! Sure, you gain fie hundred lifepoints, but it's worth it! When I play this spell, every spell or trap card on the field is destroyed!"

"Hold on there! I play my trap card, judgment of Anubis!"

Raimundo sighed as the card revealed itself. "Oh, come on!" Can't I ever catch a break?"

Baveras chuckled. "Guess not. When I play this trap, byu discarding one card from my hand, I can negate the effect of any spell card that destroys my own, and destroy it. In addition, I can select any monster on your side of the field, and destroy it, doing damage to your lifepoints equal to your monster's attack!" The Dog God of Death rose from a great coffin, and shrugged away the heavy storm. after that, it pointed at Sabersaurus, and the monster exploded with gusto, sending all three of its horns into an area of Raimundo that was not so resilient. (4400/7300)

"Wow, I felt that," Tristan exclaimed from the beach beneath them. "Yo, Raimundo, you alright man?"

Raimundo smiled as he stood, in an attempt to look unscathed. "Just fine, Tristan. Don't worry about me: this loser's going down." Raimundo picked up his hand, not remembering having dropped it, and stared Baveras down. "You mighta slowed me down, Baveras, I'll give you that, but don't thinkl I won't take you down! I'll back up my tough talk by summoning a reptile called Granadora in attack mode!" A very odd-looking monster erupted onto the field, with a great jaw, full of oddly shaped teeth (It kind of looked like the pokemon Mawile, if you need visual aide), and a small body, that didn't seem to fit it's oversized, tooth-lined head. "Granadora has a special ability! When he gets summoned, like now, I get one thousand extra lifepoints!" Raimundo smiled as his lifepoints rose. (5400/7300) "Next I play a spell card, Ultra evolution pill! You may gain lifepoints," Baveras watched as the clammy hand from Spell absorption took hold of the pill, and sucked the energy from it into Baveras. (5400/7800) "but now, by ditching a reptile on my side of the field, I can summon a dino from my hand!" The pill flew itself into Granadora's oversized mouth, and the reptilian beast began to change. It began by glowing a hot black color, then by growing in size. Baveras watched as the Granadora became the almighty Black Tyranno. (2600/1800) "Now, Black tyranno, attack the MK-3 now! Use your t-rex teeth!" The great dinosaur bent down, jaws aimed for the MK-3. the Tyranno began to lower it's head, but stopped before ever hitting the machine before it. The tyranno kept lowering, and lowering, until evntually, he was bound to the floor.

"What? What's going on?"

"That would be my trap card, gravity bind." Baveras looked at the dinosaur on the floor and gave it a rather rude gesture with his hand. "As long as it's on the field, no monster level four or lower can attack. They can still change their positions, but that hardly matters, for what I have planned."

"Alright... fine. Take your turn!"

Baveras drew, and he looked at his opponent; Rai was startng to sweat, his confident smile weighted by doubt. The man in blue savored this look: It was this expression that kept him dueling. He loved to watch his opponent's sweat, and loved to watch them cry when they lost. "Alright, I guess I should make this a move to remember then." Baveras chuckled. "it _is, _after all one of the last turns I'll take this duel." Baveras placed a card on his duel disk, and a penguin apperaed in a black tuxedo. "Say hello to nightmare penguin, in attack mode! Thus little guy may not seem like much, but as long asd he's on the field, every water monster on the field gains two hundred more attack points!" The attack point meters next to nightmare penguin, and Baveras' bugroth lit up and spun in the new numbers. (900/1800-1300/1800, 1700/1500-1900/1500)

"Hah! Forgetting something, Baveras? You're bugroth is level four, which means you can't touch me , no matter how many attack points it has!" Raimundo pointed to Baveras' gravity bind, to which he responded with a great laugh.

"You're forgetting, my fair opponent, that my A legendary ocean is still in effect, lowering level of all my water monsters by one! Now, Amphibious bugroth, attack Raimundo directly with cyber missile shock!" Once again, the missile flew. This time, however, it went behind him and took him in the back. (3500/7800) "I think You'll remember the turn now. I end with one last thought: Magic reflector!" Baveras looked at his legendary ocean card as a machine was placed in front of it, and began to laugh as his lifepoints rose. (3500/8300) "This magic reflector card will protect my field spell. In game terms, now you have to destroy it twice before it truly leaves the field."

"Alright, I guess it's my move then!" Raimundo drew, worried. _I've gotta make this draw count, or else it'll all be over! Omi... Clay.. Kimiko.. all the others who came so far to get back the wu, I... I can't let hem down. _Raimundo looked at the card he drew, and smiled. I play the card I got from one of your friends, the Changing Chopsticks!"

"What? A shen going wu?"

"That's right pal! And now, for it's effect, any battle damage I take is cut in half, as long as it's in the graveyard! It's almost like I have seven thousand lifepoints! Still think you can win?"

"Why yes, yes I do. But pleae, continue with your turn. I want to maky my move quickly."

"Patience is a virtue Baveras." Yami said from the background, smiling to himself, impressed with the fact that Raimundo could use a decktype as hard to manage as dinosaurs so masterfully.

"One he doesn't have, looks like." Raimundo smiled and made a face at Baveras. "And it's about time I beat it into you! I play Grand evolution pill!"

"Marvelous. And what, praytell, does this one do?"

"It's so easy, even you can understand it! See, it starts by offering one monster on my field," Raimundo pointed to his black stego, who was quickly turned to pixels. "and then I get to summon a dino without tributes! And see, even though this is a normal spell, it stays on the field for two of my turns!" Raimundo loked at Bacveras as his lifepoint meter wnet up. (3500/8800) Don't get too confident with those lifepoints, Baveras, they're gonna be dropping pretty quick."

Oh yeah? How? Efvemn if you do summon a high-level monser, my gravity bind will reduce it to wasted space!"

"Never. See, dinosaurs are strong, sure, and a lot of them _were_ dumb. But you know, there were some smart ones, too.

"Yeah? Like who? The only dinosaurs I know had peanut-sized brains. Kinda reminds me of someone I know, now that I think about it." Baveras chuckled at his own joke.

"Laugh all ya want, blue-boy, but I'll be the one still standing after this turn!"

"Like I won't be."

"We'll see about that! The monster I summon is a great beast known as the super conductor tyranno!" A great tyranosaurus hit the field, roaring aloud, announcing it's supremacy to the world. It was huge and black, with monstrous stripes along it's back, and to particularly threatening-looking horns. (3000/2800)

"Go, gravity bind!" Super conductor Tyranno was caught unawares by the trap, and pulled down hard to the ground.

"Doesn't matter. Seem, super Conducter's one of those smart ones I told ya about. He knew about strength in numbers, and now he's gonna use 'em to take out your lifepoints!"

"Oh yeah? how?"

"With his effect, of course. Super conductor uses those numbers by eliminating them. For every dino I tribute, I can inflit one thousand damage to your lifepoints!"

"What?"

"That's right! and I'll start now! Black Tyranno, charge my conductor! Go, super conductor! Fossilized charge!" The Tyranno swallowed it's ally, and its horns lit up. The great beast bellowed, and a dinosaur shaped bolt of electricity was sent straight into Baveras, who fell to his knees. (3500/7800)

"See, I told you you'd be off your feet at thje end of my turn."

Raimundo smiled as Baveras quickly stood. "Yes, but I won't be down for long! I now summon another nightmare penguin!" A penguin emerged next to it's twin, this one sporting a blue tux instead of a black one. (1300-1500/1800, 900-1500/1800, 1900-2100/1500) "Now, my Bugroth, attack Raimundo directly!" The bugroth grew in due to the penguins, then charged in for a Mechanical tackle, but was shrunk down as the changing chopsticks activated. The hit went through, but the damage was lowered. (2450/7800) "Even with those chopsticks, you only get one summon per trun! Even if you managed to keep drawing dinos, there's no way you could finish me before I finished you!"

"That's what you think, pal. Is it my turn? My conductor's itching to take another shot at you, and so am I."

"Fine then, make your move!"

"Alright, you asked for it! I summon a powerhouse called Babycerasaurus in attack mode!" a small baby triceratops appeared, still partially in it's egg.

"You call that a powerhouse? Oh please, he's not even worth the deckspace."

"Quite the contrary," A smiling Yami said to a skeptical Baveras, "This little guy will be your downfall."

"What? How can he be?"

"Easily, actually. See, if Babycerasaurus is sent to the grave, I get to special summon another dino from my deck. Well, the dino has to be under level four, but that doesn't really matter, now doe sit? Super conductor tyranno, do your thing!" Babycerasaurus squeaked as the Tyranno looked at it, licking it's lips. super conductor swallowed it whole without even thinking of chewing, and simply spat thunder at Baveras. (2450/6800) "And now, with he first one's effect, another Babycerasaurus comes out!" A second appeared, and the process repeated. (2450/5800) "Say hello to the third one!" number three enmerged, and Tyranno snarled with joy. (2450/4800) and last but nopt least, a really cool monster known as black terra!" A small tearodactyl emerged, strecthing it's wings and preparing to charge, but seeing the dino beforing it screaming. (2450/3800)

"Huh, I thought you said that thing was gonna beat me? I'm still standing, but you won't be soon enough."

"I didn't have to beat you this turn, Baveras. See, when my Terra is sent to the graveyard, and it wasn't in battle, then he gets to come back to my hand!"

"Well, if my math is correct, it still won't be enough to take me down." Baveras smiled, glad for the lifepoints he had gained with spell absorption."

"We'll see about that! I'll lay two cards facedown, and end my turn!"

"If you insist. I start with a shen gong wu! Go, tongue of Saiping! This will let me take control ofevery last one of your beasts, beast-warriors, winged beasts, insects, or dinosaur type monsters until the end of the turn. I think I'll choose... _Super conductor tyranno. _

"What? No! That's cheap! You get to take over ALL of those cards? And it's absolutely free?

"Well, no. As it hapens, it doesn't let me attack during the turn I activate it. forunately for me, I didn't plan on attacking this turn. Super conductor tyranno, knock yourself out! ready, aim, fire!" Super conductor tyranno shot a blast of thunder at Raimundo powerful enough to blow itself to bits. (1450/3800) "I guess I'll end my turn there."

"Alright! At the end of your turn, I play my trap card, fossil excavation! This trap lets me get back one dino monster, at the cool price of one card from my hand! so welcome back super conductor tyranno!" The tyranno returned, roaring and ready to go. "He's back... _with a vengeance_. oh, and the card I ditched was Balck Terra, so it comes back, too." Raimundo smiled as he slid the card into his hand. "Now, I activate my other trap card! Ultimate offering! By paying five hundred lifepoints per monster, I can summoin or set as many monster I want in a turn!"

"Wait... but that means that you can..."

"Win? I know I start by summoning Black Terra!" The tearodactyl reappeared, flapping it's wings and screeching. "Next, I use tyranno's effect! go! Super conductor blast!" The tyranno fired at Rai's terra, then at Baveras, as his lifepoints dropped. (2800/1450) "Now terra returns to my hand, sand I pay five hundred lifepoints to summon it again!" The terra returned again, ready to go, and was quickly blasted. (950/1800) "Now terra returns, I pay to summon, and blast you with it again!" (450/800)

"HAHAHA! Don't you see? Now you don't have neough to sumon it again, and my bugroth can take you out in my ext turn!" Baveras pointed to his machine and laughed. "You played well, Raimundo, but it's all over!"

"Back atcha, Baveras, but it's you it's over for, not me! You forget I still have a dino!" Raimundo gestured toqwards Super conductor, and smiled. "Get the picture? It's all over."

Baveras hung his head. "Yes... finish it."

"Go, Super conductor tyranno! conducting blast!" the tyranno fired on e last shot, and the game was over. (450/0) "I'll be taking the tongue of saiping now."

"Yes, it's yours. I was told that... if I was beaten... to give you a... speciasl privilige... My boss knows how valuable information can be, and has decided to give you one question each. not one to a person, but one to each group. that's Yugi's gang, and Omi's." Baveras ahnded Raimundo the card, and sighed sadly. "Sadly, after this, you'll want to go. It simply would not do to see what the master has planned for me now."

"A question?" This came from a newly confused Joey. "You mean we actually get any kind of informatiopn we want on dis guy?"

"He seems to think you've earned it. He says you may know anything I do, with the exception of asking any questions on his dueling: If you end up locked against each other, he does not wish for you to know the sedrets of his deck." You have twelve hours. Consider your question wisely. I will be waiting." Baveras jumped into the water of the lake they had dueled over, and with a cyclone of water, was gone.

"Well, that is very interesting. I can't help but wonder... Why would he so freely valuable information?" This came from Omi.

"Most of the bad guys do. They like to toot their own horns quite a bit." Mai didn't know much about evil, but she had at least experienced that much.

"Pretty much, yeah, dat's da case." Joey looked at Raimundo. "Dat was an awesome duel, Rai. You sure you're related to dat scuzball?"

"Only by blood." The group laughed before settling around more serious bussiness.

Okay, so I'm a little rusty, but I thought the duel worked out pretty well, don't you? In the next chapter: Baveras makes another appearance as Omi and the gang ask their question. It's going to be a rough twelve hours, as Tristan steps up to the dueling plate, against a duelist with a very... interesting deck. All this and more in the next chapter: "an overwhelming situation", coming in the next few weeks! R&R!

PS: I'm not entirely sure I got Super Conductor tyranno quie right, and I'm fairly certain he can't tribute himself, but I took some.. artistic license to him...

Disclaimer: No ygo, XS, Pokemon, or anything else belongs to me... sadly...


	6. Baveras' first answer! Why the cards?

Welcome to another chapter! YAY! I got another person to review! Big thanx to all who have reviewed thus far! glomps Okay, so there in't a duel in this one like I said there would be, but the chappie ran a bit long. but the duel will start right away in the next chappie, which will be here as soon as I get three reviews! (that's one more person reviewing than what I already have, people!)

"Where to now, Pegasus?" Ryou was looking nervous. After all, Spike had almost defeated Clay thanks to his fiends, and the only reason Raimundo had beaten Baveras was because he was fortunate enough to draw Babycerasaurus that turn.

Night had fallen, and the group had decided to set up camp there, at the beach where Raimundo dueled Baveras.It had been a quick four hours since Raimundo's duel with Baveras, and he had just woken up from a long rest.

"You know, I don't know, Bakky-boy." Pegasus frowned. "All Baveras left me when we dueled was a map to himself. I suppose Baveras will tell us where to go once our questions are answered." Pegasus stopped, and looked at Raimundo. "You're quite impressive, boy. Your cousin would be proud."

"Eh, like that's sayin' anything." Raimundo and Joey said in unison.

Tristan chuckled and said 'They've got a point there, Pegasus." He smiled as he looked down to Raimundo and Yugi, who had taken control to allow Yami a rest. "But look, how's about I go after the next bad guy? I can't really let you guys have all the fun, now can I?"

"Tristan..." Duke was storking his chin, deep in thought. "I'm not to sure that's a good idea. I mean, you wore your duel disk on backwards on your way here, I'm not entirely sure you know your way around a duel yet. And with stakes like this-"

"It's the only way I know I'll be good enough to win if you guys really count on me. Look, we have three shen gong wu now, right? That means that even if I screw up, we'll still have two left, and I'll step back and let you guys handle them from there. Come on, I know I can take them!"

Joey frowned as he noticed the disagreements rising from people all around him. "What da heck are you guys talkin' about?" Joey looked around the circle of his friends looking for support. "Tristan's right, it's not like losin' one will hurt us any. And dat's if he does lose! Besides, even if da worst happens, we'll know what is happenin' in one of their decks, and will be able ta pick da next person to duel him better. I mean we're all here because we trust each odah to be competent enough to rise to any occasion, right? 'Cause we're all friends. It's about time we showed some faith in Tristan, and let him duel!"

Joey's frown turned to a smile as he watched the others nod their heads encouragingly. "Joey's right," Tea exclaimed. "It's about time we put our trust in someone new, and let Tristan take a shot!" Tea's interjection was enough to convince Yugi, and Raimundo quickly after him. After this, it was a small matter to convince the others to let Tristan take a duel.

"Touching." A voice called from the sea as the ocean grew choppy and the skies turned a dingy gray.The waves rose higher and higher, fighting to reach the shore.

They never made it.

The waves were forced to turn into each other as some unknown force controlled them. They spun about, dancing and turning, rising higher and higher, until a great water spout arose from the sea! Omi, knowing water wel, and being able to sense the smallest disturbances, alertad the rest of the group the moment the waves began acting cruelly.

"Very touching! Unfortunately for you, your time here draws to a close!" Baveras stepped out of the water spout, and a large man stood beside him. He wore a pair of beige jeans, full of pockets, and a plain white t-shirt with a pocket on his chest, containing his duel deck. He was very tan, and built so well one could slam an anvil onto his stomach and he wouldn't feel a thing. At least, that's the impression he gave. Noone could truly survive something like that (FPOR: For point of Refenrence: Picture Chumley's dad from GX, only bigger, with a better nose. There's your man). "It has been four hours, young ones. This means that the first third of your time is over. Tell me, have either of your thought of a question yet?"

Kimiko looked from one face to another, and spoke up. "I have one, but I only want to ask it if my teamates don't mind." She looked at each of them in turn: Omi had his eyes closed, deep in thought. Raimundo had his hand to his chin, trying to look thoughtful as he stroked it. Clay simply stood, and flashed a smile of approval at Kimiko. "I would have told you guys about the question sooner, but we were so busy setting up camp."

"Aw, shucks, that's alright., Kimiko." Clay looked at her approvingly and flashed another of his famous Texas smiles. "It's not like I done thought of anything, have you, guys?" Omi look at Kimiko and shook his head "No" as he smiled at her.

Raimundo stood, with his hands in his pockets and said "I couldn't have thought of one. I've been sleeping for the past four hours. Remember?" Raimundo didn't want to admit it, but he was still fatigued from his duel with Baveras. He had been attacked by Amphibious Bugroth twice, and even with the changing chopsticks defending him, Rai couldn't help but notice that it had hurt more than any attack he had ever felt before. He remembered Omi telling him the same thing about Magic Cylinder's damage in his duel with Spike, and Clay for Archfiend soldier's damage when it attacked his Flame Wingman. Something was definitely wrong here...

"Go ahead, Kimiko, we have faith in you. Ask away."

"Alright, Baveras... The shen gong wu were powerful enough as it is, and before they altered reality, not just a duel." Kimiko paused for a moment, trying to word her question perfectly. "If the shen gong wu were so powerful before, and your master is as strong as you say he is, why did he have Pegasus transform the wu into cards? I mean, did you really need them?"

"Why, yes, we did, Kimiko, and that was an excellent question." Baveras smiled as he looked at the group. "You see, in my master's deck lie cards of great power. Both magical and in the ways of the game. As it happens, however, creating the cards took a great deal of magical energy from our master, and he needed to find another source of magic to keep the cards in their places."

"And the shen gong wu made the perfect source of magic." With Yami's help, Yugi understood now: Itr was always about finding more ways to control things, and always about power.

"Correct. However, the master needed to put a great deal of shen gong wu into his deck in order to keep his creatures at bay. This is why he made Pegasus give the cards special effects: They needed to be in his deck to work, and dead draws are no good to him, even if the draws are magical. In addition, the cards keep all magical effects of Shen gong wu outside of duels, to an extent, and are still perfectly usable in a xaolin showdown, or other uses for them."

"Alright," Raimundo said, gesturing towards the big guy next to Baveras, "so what's this guy for? He's wearing a duel disk, is he our next opponent?"

"That he is. Who's gonna be your team's player this time?"

"That'd be me!" Tristan looked excitedly at his opponent, who simply stood there, expressionless. "Hello? You there? Earth to big guy!" The large man merely stood, unblinking.

"That won't work on Golem. You see, he's spent his entire life becoming strong. He wasn't exactly what we would call big whenm he was a kid, and got beat up a lot for it. Now, my master has given him power, in exchange for the feelings of mercy he felt long ago towards those weaker than him. Golem, duel." Baveras snapped his fingers, and the big man came to life, activating his duel disk suddenly and placing his deck inside, after shuffling through thoroughly.

"Yes, Baveras. Is my opponent to be taking the first move, or the second?" Golem's voice was much higher than one would expect from someone of his size, though still powerful enough to demand an amount of respect.

"I'll be going first, if you don't mind. By the way, what do you wager?" The big man simply stood there yet again.

"uh, He wagers the Eye of Dashi." Baveras held up a card, and slid it into Golem's deck. "And your wager?"

"That's an easy one! The Tongue of Sai ping! It'll be perfect for my deck! Raimundo, do you mind?"

"Not at all, Tristan." Rai took the Tongue of Sai ping out of his deck, and gave it to Tristan, watching as he shuffled it up.

"Alright, I don't know what you think you can do against me, but beating me won't be so easy!" Golem remained silent, simply waving his hand to signal Tristan to start the duel.

"Duel!" They called in unison, and Tristan drew his cards.

  
Okay, this chapter ran longer than I expected, so I couldn't fit the duel into here. "an Overwhelming situation" is up next! What kind of deck will Golem use, and how can a new duelist like Tristan counter it? stay tuned for the next chapter to find out! R&R!


	7. an Overwhelming Situation

"Duel!" They called in unison, and Tristan drew his cards.

"alright, Big guy! I set one monster in defense mode, and lay one card facedown." Tristan set his cards as they appeared on the field. I'll end my turn from there!"

Golem said nothing, just drew. "Nobleman of Crossout," he said, holding up the card and sliding into his disk without blinking.

"Activate trap! Go, Ceasefire!" Two men stood on the field suddenly, each holding a pen. The first walked over to Tristan, pulling a scroll from inside his shirt, and Tristan signed quickly. He then handed it to the other man, who waekd to Golem. As Golem signed it, his duel disk shoook, and his lifepoints fell to 7500. After this, his facedown monster appeared on the field, and the image of a creepy clown emerged. (500/1200)

"What was that, Yugi?" Omi hadn't seen that card before.

"A very useful trap called Ceasefire. You see, on activation, any facedown monster is fipped faceup. This stopped Golem's Nobleman of Crossout from working. After that, The player who activated Ceasefire does five hundred damage to his opponent for every effect monster on the field."

"I see. So Tristan not only stopped Golem's card from working and saved his monster, he did damage too!" Omi was impressed. "Keep it up, Tristan!"

Golem scoffed at the small one's interruption, and continued, holding up another card. "Heart of the Underdog," he said simply, placing a card on his duel disk as a heart appeared on his chest. "It's effect comes later. Next, I summon Mad Dog Of Darkness, in attack mode." Golem's high-pitched monotone never wavered as the large, crazed beast emerged, looking particularly hungry. (1900/1000) "Now, Mad Dog of Darkness, attack his clown with rabid bark." The dog let out a loud bark, the sonic waves piercing Tristan's Peten, who promptly shattered to pixels.

"Peten, Hat Trick! Go!" Peten yanked off his cap as he was destroyed, leaving it on the field. slowly, another Peten began to emerge from it, placing the cap on his head. (500/1200)

"That was different," Golem said, shrugging his shoulders again and handing the turn to Tristan.

"That was my Peten's ability. See, if he's sent to the graveyard, I can remove him from play to summon another from my hand or deck. In this case, it was from my deck." Tristan drew, throwing a spell card onto the field with gusto. "Now I play my Toll spell card! As long as this is on the field, both players have to pay five hundred lifepoints to attack! Next, I set one monster in defense mode, and end my turn." Tristan watched a monster appear facedown next to his Peten while an armed soldier came to stand in front of both players. "Make your move!"

Golem simply grunted loudly and drew his card. The heart from his spell card began to beat furiously, and Golem smiled. "Now my Heart of the Underdog's effect activates." He showed the card to his opponent, revealing it to be Insect Knight. "If the card I draw at the start of my turn is a normal monster, I get to draw again." He drew the card and smiled. "And if that card happens to be a normal monster..." He showed a Vorse Raider card as the heart beat furiously, and he drew again. "I can't draw again with this card," he said, tossing it onto his duel disk. "But I can activate it. Non-spellcasting area. As long as this card is face-up on the field, none of my monsters are effected by spells. And next up... Out comes my Vorse Raider." A large Beast-warrior emerged on the field, strutting a long scimitar evily. (1900/1200) Now I pay the necessary 500 lifepoints," Golem's life dropped to seven thousand, "And attack your set monster now!.

"Which activates his effect! Go, Bubonic Vermin, mass breeding!" A large, discolored rat appeared on the field, hissing and squeaking, before another cxame out next to it. Suddenly, the previous one was shattered to pixels, and the second rat flipped facedown. "This was my Bubonic Vermin! As soon as he's flipped, I get another one from my deck in facedown defense mode!" Tristan smiled as his strategy came into effect. "See, attacking me won't do anything, and if you attack, you lose lifepoints, thanks to my toll card." Tristan pointed to the soldier who was collecting money from Golem for his attack fee now. (7000/8000). And soon, my other two strategies will come up. You can't win!"

"Well, I'll be a four-legged snake," Clay smiled, looking at Trisatan's strategy. "He doesn't just have this one good strategy, he's got two others?"

"Tree, actually," Joey said, holding up a trio of fingers and smiling at his friend's performance. "But I won't spoil da surprise." The friends turned to watch the duel continue.

"Now my Mad Dog of Darkness will attack your Peten the Dark Clown with beast fang." Golem's lifepoints dropped even further as Tritan's peten was destroyed. Hat Trick brought out the third quickly.

_What is he doing?_ Baveras was upset at Golem's performance. _He's just letting himself lose lifepoints against monsters that virtually can't be destroyed!_

Meanwhile, Golem stood thinking. _He can't keep his monsters forever. I might bring myself down, but he shall run out of monsters soon. Besides, if I can get him to fill his field, I can just not attack and wait for him to deck out._ "I end my turn there."

"Alright, get ready! Tristan drew his card and smiled. "Time for strategy number two! I flip summon my Bubonic Vermin! Go, Mass Breeding!" The rat began to chirp, just as the last did, and a second emerged, sliding into facedown defnse mode. Now I tribute both of my rodents for the Ancient Gear Golem!" A large, mechanical monster appeared next to Peten, It's humanoid design belying it's power.

_Well, this certainly _is _an unexpected turn._ Baveras looked at the large mechanical beast and frowned. _Tristan has been playing defensively this whole time, and suddenly, he moves to attack, with toll on the field?_

"There's more where that came from! See, my deck has four strategies. The first one slowly lowers my opponent with Toll, and those monsters that keep replacing themselves. The second focuses on those big monsters, who are usually hard to bring out! With all these monsters on the field, it's easy to summon huge guys like my Golem here without breaking a sweat. And now," Tristan's lifepoints lowered to 7500 as he pointed to Mad Dog. "It might cost me some lifepoints, but my Gear Golem's Mechanized Melee will cost you a lot more!" The mechanical monster whirred, and shot it's fists towards the dog, who whimpered, and was blasted to pixels before they ever got to him. "From there, I'll set one card facedown, and end my turn!"

Golem drew. He could tell he was in trouble. The heart on his chest began to beat faster and faster, as he showed a Summoned Skull. "Now I draw again." He drew, then again, then again, and still another time, showing his cards to be Gemini elf, Insect knight, another Vorse Raider, and Battle Footballer. The card he drew would have made him laugh, if he had feelings. Instead, he simply held up the card and said "Eye of Dashi." The bejeweled eye appeared, looked down at all the monsters, and struck down Ancient Gear Golem and Peten the dark Clown. Next, the eye whirled to the side, and struck a blast to his Golem's hand. He lost Insect knight, Battle Footballer, and Sonic Duck.

"Uuuuhh... What just happened?"

"It's the effect of his Eye of Dashi," Baveras said, smiling. "You see, This Wu Card can destroy any monster on the field, so long as he discards monsters with a total amount of level stars equal to or higher than the target. He lost a total of eleven stars, meaning your eleven stars worth of monsters were destroyed. The eye of Dashi, unlike most other Shen Gong Wu cards, is a normal spell, so he may only use it once. Even if he were to use Magician of Faith, or a Feather of the pheonix on it, he wouldn't be able to reuse it. That is part of the Eye of Dashi's effect. But now, I believe my friend's monsters would like a word with you,"

Golem set a card down on his duel disk, and a pair of lovely elves appeared, dancing and giggling. (1900/900) "Gemini elf and Vorse Raider will attack your lifepoints." Had he feelings, he would have been laughing as he tossed his one thousand lifepoints at the soldier, and Gemini and Vorse Raider attacked Tristan. The Raider charged in first, slamming him in the gut with the hilt of his scimitar, laughing wickedly, followed quickly by the elves. One made to attack him from the front, and the other from behind. (4400/3700) "End."

Tristan drew his card, hesitant to stand. _That hurt! I hope this isn't what every duel's like or I might have to get out of the game!_ He stood slowly, breathing heavily, and said "Alright! Now to get serious! Tristan took his graveyard out of the pile and carefully counted the cards. _hhhmm... not enough for number three yet. Guess I'll have to go back to number one. _"I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn! The monster appeared in front of Tristan, as the duelist waved for his opponent to move.

Golem drew, but this time, Heart of the underdog did not activate. He instead said "I play my Cost Down spell card. By discard one card from my hand," he sent his second Heart of the underdog to the grave, "one of the monsters in my hand loses two star levels. And now he emerges. Say hello to the summoned Skull" The great skeletal image emerged, dark purple wings flapping, and thunder crackling between his horns. "Now I pay the necessary five hundered life points, so that my summoned Skull can attack your set monster with Lightning Strike." Golem's points dropped down to 3900 as his Skull charged up and shot at his set monster. This one was a small human, dressed darkly. She got hit by the blast, but not before delivering a message to Tristan's deck. (3900/3700)

"That was my Gravekeeper's Spy. She just gave inside information to my deck. information saying I could use a little help, which should be arriving any time now." Sure enough, a second Spy emerged right where the last one was. (1200/2000) "And with such a high defense score, I doubt you'll be attacking it with any of your other monsters."

Golem waved to Tristan to start his turn.

"I'll make my draw," Tristan remarked, looking intently at his two-card hand, and near empty field, "And play my Graceful Charity spell card. Now I get to draw two Cards, and discard two from my hand." Tristan put hand to deck again, and after brief consideration, discarded Cannon Soldier and Strray Lambs. "Now I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn." Tristan was satisfied with the move he had made, but not with what it had left him: he was at a disadvantage in terms of lifepoints, and he didn't have many cards to defend him. If Golem could destroy his set monster without battle, it would all be over.

"Draw," Golem said simply, looking at his hand. "I now summon my Insect Knight."

"But I thought you discarded him with the Eye of Dashi!"

"Fool. I discarded one, yes, but I have more than one in this deck. Now then, I summon my Insect Knight, and my Summoned Skull will attack your Gravekeeper's Spy." The Skull bowed it's head, and fired it's charged attack on the spy, blasting to pixels with ease. "Now, my Insect knight will attack your set monster with with bug blade." The insect ran toward the set beast, and attacked with gusto. A small squirrel appeared, disappearing into the deck before falling into the graveyard. Two more followed closely after, but stopped short of the grave, landing on the field facedown. Golem also took note of the rising of Tristan's lifepoint meter: It had gone up by 1000 lifepoints. (3400/4700)

"That was my Nimble Momonga," Tristan said, smirking. "When he's destroyed in battle, I can summon two more from my deck in defense position, and I gain one thousand life points! Now, if you attack again, you'll be raising my lifepoints and lowering yours. I told you you couldn't win! And now, it's my draw."

Tristan made his draw and smirked. Now, I sacrifice my two Nimble Momonga for mny Andro Sphinx!" The two squirrels rose into the air, flying in circles around each other, until eventually, they began to glow and mesh, changing shape, and squeaking painfully. Eventually, the form of a humanoid lion appeared, rising to the field like a clap of beastly thunder. The great monster roared, and pointd towards Golem so maliciously, even he without feelings flinched.

"I don't usually like using this card against people, because of it's history with yuge there," Tristan gestured towards Yugi with his disk arm and then pointed to Golem. But now you've made me mad! I pay the necessary lifepoints," Tristan's points dropped to forty-two hundred, "to attack your summoned skull with my Andro Sphinx now! Ancient Thunder!" Again, the great beast roared, and corporeal electricity filled the air, zapping all of the spectators painfully.the electricity coarsed through the Summoned Skull's body, and the fiend was shattered to pixels. The thunder was sent to Golem, and he shuddered, screaming, and fell to the ground.(1650/4200)

"Oh, I probably should have told you, half of the attack of any monster my Sphinx destroys is taken from your lifepoints. And judging from the way all of your monsters have been in attack mode so far, I'm guessing they all have high attack points. You're finished."

Golem was back on his feet, though didn't remember standing. He looked around frantically, felt the weight of his own muscles. His vision shot to Baveras, then shot back to Tristan, then lifted his head to view the great Sphinx before him. Golem screamed. Tears filled his eyes, and he fell back to his knees. Even the man's monsters looked back to see his master cry.

_This... This is.. impossible! Golem... he is Golem no more.. his emotion has been restored! This means.. everything... his memeories, emotions... Our master will not be pleased._Baveras began to melt, rising into the air, and turning to steam as he took his leave, uneager to be the victim of his master's reaction.

"What... what's going on?" Golem searched frantically around, hoping for answers. He saw Omi, Yugi and the others, and deactivaterde his duel disk. He approached Mai, and stumbled, as if unaccustomed to his own body. Mai was used to this, of course, but this was different. There was recognition in Golem's eyes.

"I know you," Mai said suddenly, "You're one of the people I dueled at Battle City... but you were a lot... smaller then. And nowhere near as... brutish."

"Brutish? Oh no... I haven't been bullying any of you, have I?"

"Eh, don't worry, you weren't not'n' our boy couldn't handle." Joey slapped a hand to Tristan's back, smiling, "Som what's yer name, anyways?"

"Huh? Oh. It's uh, Micheal. Micheal Donovan. A pleasure to make your aquaintance. I apolagize if I was a bother at all."

"Uh, not at all," Tea looked at Micheal apprehensively. "Why are you being so nice to us? If you don't mind my asking..."

"Oh, not at all, my dear girl." Golem - or Micheal, as they now knew him - sighed, and told his tale.

"You see, I am only fifteen years old. When I wa-"

"Fifteen? But you're almost as big as Dojo! When he's flying, anyway." Kimiko was wide-eyed at such a young boy's huge body.

"Yes, You see, even geniuses can make mistakes. Whilst I was in school, I was... not quite a genius. Just short. If memory serves, my intelligence quotent was one hundred thirty-four. This was my score at age thirteen. Because of my intelligence, the stronger children - and believe me, at the time, there were - rather enjoyed proving their phyysical superiority to me - painfully. This is why I use the deck that I do. I - I always wanted to be strong. To prove underdogs can be powerful to. That's... that's what Heart of the Underdog is to me.

"One day whilst walking home from school, there was a team of four I beieve. The day is still hazy. All I remember is a lot of pain. I was angry. And then Ander came."

"Please, Micheal, tell us who this Ander is." Omi was paying attention as well as he knew how, which was rather well, given that he was such an astute monk.

"Ander is the one who gave me this strength. He... He told me he could make me strong, if I wished it. As I said, I was angry at the time. All I wanted was revenge. I agreed, and he told me that those who wished to be strong had to make sacrifices. I told him I was ready for such, and I became the man you knew before your friend brought me back. I'm not entirely sure what that man was. I... I don't really remember anything from there. Tell me, what is today's date?"

"it's, uh... the fifth dude. of September." A warm breeze passed between Micheal and Raimundo as Micheal gasped. "But... it was November when Ander gavce me power... Tell me... what is the year?"

"It's 2007. What year wa-"

"2007? nine years? Impossible! But that would make me twenty-four years old!" Micheal burst into tears, and swept into hysteria. Yami looked to Omi. Nothing was said, but Omi understood. _We need to talk._ The two left together as Mai, Tea, Duke and Tristan tried to soothe Micheal, with Joey, Raimundo, Kimiko and Clay going off to find food and firewood.

_In a dark room, there are no windows or doors. Still two being converse there. One could be called human, but the other was nothing. In a swirl of darkness blacker than the room, the creature was nothing but essence._

_**"What do you mean they broke the spell?"**_

"My lord, please. There is still hope. These children are more powerful than we expected it seems. But do not worry; You have more power on your side than Golem and myself."

_"**Indeed I do, Baveras. Bring me... the Six."**_

"The Six? Milord, please, you know I am not one to question my master, but is this really necessary?"

"**_What I say is necessary is necessary. I shall take no more chances with them. You are to bring me the six now. And Baveras... This is your last chance, Baveras."_**

"Yes, M-m-master." Baveras gulped as he faded to nothing in the room.

And now you know! The name of the villian here is Ander, Tristan has won without winning, and in the next chapter, Kimiko and the rest of the group stumble upon a servant of the dark lord purely by accident! Don't miss Kimiko's first duel of the series in the next chapter, "Brother Blood, the Flame empowered!" Name is subject to change.


	8. a child's fire! shes not my opponent?

Wow, it's been a while sionce I've written in this one! Apolagies for the wait... really, I'm very sorry! But, I've gotten much better as a writere, I think, and now you don't have to deal with the crap I was giving you bfore. Hopefully the story will be much more enjoyable from now on.

Golem sat, wide-eyed, in front of the campfire, as Yami, Mai, and Tea filled him in on happenings for the last nine years. Golem was much more agreeable with the spell broken, though admittedly hard to comprehend sometimes, and until he could locate his family, he would be staying with Omi and the other dragons.

Kimiko had left, with Raimundo, Joey and Clay, to forage a little around the island. Joey had volunteered simply because he was nostealgic, and wanted to remember the last time he had been around. Recognizing the chance of a challenge, they took the Tongue of Sai Ping with them, And Kimiko and Joey brought their disks with them.

The group followed the shore for about a mile, searching for food or kindling. A small ways off, they found a dock, extending off into the lake. Clay, sportsman that he was, had brought a pair of fishing poles, and Kimiko and Raimundo checked the nearbgy forest behind the beach, searching for berry bushes or game.

"Now, if I were a berry bush, where would I be?" Raimundo spoun himself in a small circle, observing his surroundings.

"Probably the same place as all the animals." Kimiko had a handheld on her, and was searching to see just what they could expect to find in this area. "I don't get it! This place is supposed to be full of food, and animals, and stuff, but I haven't seen a single one. There aren't even birds around here!"

"I know. This is pointless. Let's just go get Clay, I'm sure Pegasus has food up at- do you smell something?"

"Not just smell it, Rai. I can _feel_ it. Kimiko wasn't sure what was happening. The scent of smoke was suddenly heavy on the air, which was swirling and rippling as though it were super-heated. Kimiko felt a sudden strangeness in her, as though she was at home, but out of place at the same time.

Rai and Kimiko put themselves back to back, entering fighting stances against whatever may come. Suddenly, Kimiko's eyes filled with light, as the trees in front of her burst into flame. All round they slowly caught, one by one, until eventually they were in front of Raimundo to. Suddenly, the flames opened, and bunched together, until they were a paper thin line of fire, rising up miles into the sky. Eventualy, it lowered itself, keeping close together - shaping itself - until the form of a young girl stood. The flames cooled, and soon you see dark, ashy skin under the blaze.

The fire died - no, sank into - the girl's skin, and soon she appeared before them. The girl was shirtless, but for a black tube top, wearing black leather pants. his ankles and knees brimmed with fire, which crawled up to lick her groin and stomache. Where her breasts would be, were she older, flames danced, licking playfully at her neck and ears. On her arm, a duel disk, also aflame. The most intriguing though, the thing Kimiko could not manage to ignore, were her _eyes_. The girl's eyes were intensly lit, As though the irises themselves were an inferno, an intense blaze threatening to delve into the skull of the wearer of such hellish eyes. A giggle arose from tiny lips, the sound smoky and ashy as her flame-licked skin. "There's fire in you, too!" Her voice was bright with play, but dark with an inner knowing, a dark wisdom that noone appearing her age should be. The girl suddenly stopepd and walked to Kimiko. She was slightly taller than Kimiko, and looked down a bit when saying, "I like you. You'll be fun to duel!"

Kimiko activated her disk at once, and fire burned in her eyes now as well. "Bring it on, freaky!"

That insane giggle again. So bright, but so dark. "You silly, you won't be dueling me! Oh Paaaaayyylaaaaayyyy!" The girl snapped her fingers again, and fire burned before them once more.

This was quick, however. Blazes flashed, as a tall, teenage boy stepped into it. He pointed at Rai. "So, you're the one who took my half-brother, are you? I never would have thought it possible. The name's Pele." He held out a hand to Raimundo.

Tentatively he took it to shake, put let it go promptly, cursing. "That's hot!"

"Well what else would you expect from a duelist of fire?" It was only then that they noticed the duel disk on his arm. Pele had black hair, black as a charred log. His face was a deep red, as though the blood in his veins were aflame. He certainly did have a fiery appearance, though nowhere near that of the girl behind him. "Granted, I'm not the prodegy my Lucy here is, but Milord has seen fit to allow me a chance at revenge. Now, it seems I have to make a wager if I'm to be playing you. How about -"

"Hold on, pal," Kimiko looked at him, fire still burning in her eyes. "Rai's already had a turn. If you want him, you have to go through me." Kimiko activated he rduel disk. never looking away from the man called Pele.

Pele sighed. "Very well. I will defeat you first. As I was saying, I have to offer something to you. Milord was unwilling to give me a Shen Gong Wu card of great power, after my brother's defeat, but I see no harm in offering the Star Hanabi." Pele held the card up, and slid it into his deck. "And, your wager is?"

"The tongue of Sai Ping!" Kimiko, too, held up the card, and slid it into her deck. The two of them shuffled their own, then each others, and placed it back inside their respective disks.

"I say I do like the fire in you," Pele smiled as he drew his cards. "I think rather than killing you, Once we win, I'll have my master make you a bed slave for me. Wouldn't you enjoy that?"

This was too much for Kimiko. "Yeah right, you're forgetting the fact that you have to beat me first! That;'s not gonna happen."

"We'll see. Duel!" Pele looked at his cards, and then up at Kimiko._ She doesn't seem too pleased with her hand. All the better for me. "_First turn Honors go to me! I'll Solar Flare Dragon in attack mode!" A great red flaming dragon appeared on thye field, roaring to left and to right. (1500/1000) "Next, one spell or trap facedown, and that ought to do it."

As Kimiko drew her card, the great dragon reared it's head and roraed! Flames shot at Kimiko, burning her more than a dragon of fire should be burned, and suddenly her life points shot to 7500. "What was that? You can't attack on the first turn of the duel!"

"Doesn't mean I can't burn you, beautiful. Solar Flare dragon will burn you for five hundred damage at the end of each of my turns, thanks to his effect."

"Whatever. It won't matter anyway! I summon Homunculus, the Alchemic Being!" A great blob of ooze emerged on Kimiko's side of the field.eventually it shaped itself, slowly, into a human. (1800/1600) "Once per turn, I can change the attribute of Hmunculus to any I want! I think I want him to be fire, for now!" The homunculus turned his head and looked around him, as suddenly a magical ring circled him. It shined, and suddenly he caught flame. "Now, Homunculus, attack Solar Flare Dragon with flaming transmutation!" The homunculus sowly oozed towards Solar Flare Dragon, and clapped his hands together. He reached out, much more quickly than his previous movements were, and touched the dragon with one hand. The flame turned to ash, and the dragon burst to pixels. (7500/7700)

So predictable. I play my trap card, Backfire!" As the dragon turned to ash, the flames from Homunculus were caught in the trap, and they launched themselves aty Kimiko. Once again, Kimiko lost lifepoints. (7000/7700) "See, backfire does, well, basically what it's name implies. It forces backfires. Now, every time a Fire monster is sent to the grave, you'll take five hundred points of damage.

"After that, I'll end my turn!"

"Just a weak little monster. How pathetic. Draw!" Pele took a moment to observe his options. I remove Solar Flare Dragon from play to summon Spirit of Flames!" Solar Flare Dragon awoke inside the grave, the ashes rekindling. the flames shaped and screamed, until a helish man stepped mout, and the ashes were just ashes again. The man was aflame, just like the rest of this duel. "That's not all! I also summon my UFO Turtle to the field!" A turtle took the field. Rather than a shell, it had a spaceship on it's back. (1400/1200) "I'm sure you know what comes next. UFO turtle, attack Homunculus!" The Turtle sped forward to bash the oozy monster, but h held out a hand and destroyed it easily. Pele smile as his life points dropped with Kimiko's. (6500/7300)

"What? but you could have destroyed it with Spirit of Flames!"

Yes, I could have, and I will, but first, I want to take full advantage of your empty field. See, Bckifre just dealt more damage to you then what I took, and my UFO turtle will let me summon another monster from my deck, so long as it's a fire with fifteen hundred or less attack points. How about my Thing in the Crater?" A giant hole took the field, filling with bubbling lava, and two bright yellow eyes looke dout from beneath. (1000/1200) "Thing in the Crater, attack Honculus now!" The thing reached a long, black, scaly arm out to Homunculus, but he simply slapped it away, and the arm caught fire, blasting into pixels. (6500/6000)

Kimiko scowled, but Rai looked confused. "Kimiko, why does he keep killing his own monsters? that last one actualy cost him more lifepoints than you!"

"Because, Rai, now he can summon another monster from his hand." Kimiko was shaking with rage at being taken advantage of so easily. She should have set her trap!

"That's right. You know your fires well. When the Thing in the Crater is killed, I can summon a Pyro-type monster from my hand. I choose... How about.. .Thestalos, the Firestorm Monarch!" The steel-plated humanoid made quite the same entrance as the little girl behind Pele. Said girl was now holding a flaming teddy bear she had gotten from nowhere, and giggling slightly at Kimiko's misplay, hiding her face behind the bear. (2400/1000) "Now, Spirit of Flames, use your three hundred point boost, and attack Homunculus!" Using the boost he gains in each of his owner's battle phase, Spirit of flames shot a fireball directly at the Alchemic Being, who shattered instantaneously. (6500/5800) "Now, Thestalos, you rturn! Ruling infero!" Thestalos shot a muchg larger fire ball ayt her, which missed, but was led up by a ring of swirling flame which caught Kimiko in the torso. Kimiko fell, out of breath, and look upo angrily at Pele. (6500/3400)

"You... haven't... won... yet..."

Uh-oh! Kimiko's in trouble! In just two turns, Pele has deminished his card advantage, sure, but he's more or less destroyed Kimiko's lifepoints. How can the Dragon of Fire fight off these all-consuming floames? Find out in the next chapter, "doused" Name is subject to change.


End file.
